Overcoming Anything #HolidayWeekRepeats

February 17, 2011

"Fear is your greatest obstacle - so question your fear. If it does not serve your greatest life then do not make it your master." - Joy Page

As you go through life, there are going to be obstacles attempting to weigh you down. There will be things that try to slow you down. There will be people who try to stand in the way of your dreams.

Take the life of a man named Barry Pincus.

Barry was born in Brooklyn in the early forties and his parents divorced when he was just two years old. A tough start but as he grew up, Barry learned to play piano and absorbed everything he could regarding music.

His mother remarried when he was nearly 13, a man named Willie who drove a beer truck for the Schaefer Brewery. It was through his mother's new husband a whole new world opened up. Willie had a record collection of Jazz and Broadway musicals that vastly changed the way Barry Pincus viewed his world.

As he grew up, Barry Pincus made his way through the Julliard School of Music by working in the mail room at CBS Television. Like many others, he started at the bottom and worked his way up.

Life probably couldn't get any better for Barry Pincus some thought.

But Barry kept his dreams intact and there was nothing that was going to keep him down. Even after marriage and an emotional divorce would set many back, Barry Pincus ventured on.

He started composing music and performing at small gigs. He even wrote jingles for commericals to support himself and to feed his vision. Eventually he connected with a singer named Bette Midler and the two performed with Barry as the musical director.

Both became a very successful pair.

It is the name Barry Manilow which is how Barry Pincus is better known. He is famous for his multitude of songs and very successful performing career. He did much of this in the face of harsh music critics. Many called his music 'sentimental garbage', a tough remark for anyone to face.

Barry persevered in his dreams and remains very popular today.

Barry Pincus could have 'folded his cards' many times when others set out to criticize and place obstacles in his path. Your life will face many of the same challenges. But never give up, always believe in your dreams, believe in your visions.

Overcome the obstacles in your life and find your greatest life.

And stay inspired my friends!

Choice Is Everything #HolidayWeekRepeats

From March 5, 2012

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." - Wayne Dyer

There have been points, key junctures in my life which forced me to make a choice. Would I choose to be miserable? Would I choose a path to happiness? Would I choose anything at all?

All of us get put into this position of needing to choose whether we like it or not. It might be a choice regarding our relationships, our jobs, or even with our health. The choices will range from the seemingly mundane to those involving life and death.

Whatever the case may be, the choice still remains your own. Yes, you may not have chosen the circumstance, but you have a choice in how you react to the circumstance. It is your reaction that will send you down a good path or hurtling down a bad path.

In my own world, a divorce could have sent me down a very destructive path. There were choices and options circling in my head that could have turned out really bad for me. If I had chosen that route, I would have fallen into a really bad state of disrepair. In doing so, I would not have been capable of supporting my boys or myself.

But I chose not to take what seemed an easy road. I took the hard path of reconstructing my life. It was not easy but the rewards have been so much greater. I can attest to the fact that making a right choice in your life will create a much greater life for you as well.

• Choose not to be miserable in your life.
• Choose to take the right path in your life.
• Choose to be happy in your life.

You will achieve great things with a great attitude and by making great choices in your life. It may look hard at first, but believe me the alternative or easy path will be much more painful in the long run.

Stay inspired my friends and make the right choices in life.

Simple Advice For Life

"The principles of living greatly include the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and trial with humility."
- Thomas S. Monson

A book written by Billy Graham, titled The Journey came out in 2007, some eight years ago. In this book, the now 97 year old Billy Graham offers a few principles for living.

Billy is now battling the effects of old age and declining health but for the majority of his life he has been an evangelist having served as a spiritual adviser to many presidents and corporate leaders since before the 1950s.

He has also been a guiding light for millions of people around the world. A respected and admired man who helped to change the minds and hearts of many. There are many who agree and disagree with his views, including myself.

Yet I do believe he offers sound advice.

What he offers are six principles for living and I find them to be very good words to think about. To understand each one better, I would encourage you to read his book even if you do not necessarily agree with his religious beliefs for there are some very good common sense ideas.

Six principles of living as offered by Rev. Graham.

1. Make it your goal to live at peace with others.
2. Treat others as you'd want them to treat you.
3. Guard your tongue. Use it for good instead of evil.
4. Never repay evil with evil.
5. Avoid revenge. Don't be a captive of the past.
6. Practice the power of forgiveness.

Six easy but life changing ideas for living a better life.

On the surface they are simple but can be difficult to apply in your daily life. But if you take a moment each day, maybe seven minutes, to reflect and think about how these words fit into your life, you might start seeing a change for the better.

Make a decision to start today and change your life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Kindness Wins

"I don't accept the idea that there are two sides to any issue. I think that the middle ground is to be found within most of us." - Krista Tippett

The following story comes from a very special woman who is raising her grandson named Michael, referred to as M in the story below.

Michael has what is referred to as minimal social (and emotional) responses to others as well as difficulty understanding and reacting to social cues which often appears to others as a lack of empathy or adequate social skills.

Yet he has an amazing heart where all of those skills reside, hiding, waiting to come out at the most opportunistic times. As this story will tell you, he offers an example that many of us can learn.

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Tonight after a Parent-Teacher meeting at M's school, I went to a couple of stores to purchase small gifts for our Family Giving Program at work. After helping me make selections for three kids we will never meet; M asked if he could make a purchase of his own.

He used his birthday money to purchase a small stuffed animal toy for a girl in his class at school. She was thrilled to have the gift. Please note that this is a girl he absolutely could not tolerate when she began attending his same school room.

A girl he could not stand because she is SO much like him.

He now takes a similar small animal toy each day to school and the two of them pretend the animals get married. The note above is my absolute most favorite thing.

Please note his stick people are smiling. Smiling people because he found common ground over silly bug eyed beanie boos!

I will be buying the heck outta them for the foreseeable future because common ground is an amazing place to begin a friendship.

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In each of our daily lives, we are simply going to have a first impression of people. Their beliefs, there mannerism, the way they look may simply not be to our liking. But there is always an opportunity for the common ground between us.

Kindness could be where the middle ground is found.

Find the place where agreement can be found and maybe it all starts with having a bit more kindness in our lives. Just maybe it starts with us.

Stay inspired my friends.